After buying salads and apples for our lunch, we stopped to get gas at the local Shell station. As I have noted in earlier posts, they do a lot of wood carvings with chainsaws here in Hope, B.C. There is even one of an old style Shell gas pump.
We decided to head west to Golden Ears Provincial Park. It was a bit of a drive, but well worth it to see a different part of the province. Unfortunately, they have not handouts like other parks - typically we have found maps and descriptions of trails (including distance, elevation gain, time and difficulty). So we were reduced to asking people and taking photos of the signs.
We first stopped at Alouette Lake. It has a huge beach, picnic area and parking lot. Being a weekday, it was less than half full, but since this park is closer to the large population of Vancouver, it needs to be able to accommodate large numbers of visitors. As you can see in these photos, the smoke from distant forest fires impacts a wide region in the province.
Based on a park employee's recommendation, we decided to hike the Lower Falls Trail on Gold Creek. It is wide and even - very much an HMB approved trail - and follows Gold Creek upstream for a couple of miles.
There are many large tree stumps where the old growth forest had been logged.
It was a pleasant couple of miles hiking upstream, with an easy pace of elevation gain to reach the falls.
The trail to this point could even have been handled in a wheel chair - while not marked, those first miles were easily ADA compliant. From the viewpoint, the trail went on for several hundred yards more, but it was steeper and rougher, no longer HMB approved - but we did have nice views of the woods and falls, and of the many hikers who ignored the signs and went for a dip in the river.
On the way back down, I took a photo of this example of a young tree growing out of one of those old growth stumps. There were many like this, but this one was quite spectacular, as the new tree was about 18 inches in diameter and 60 - 70 feet tall, and had a full root system growing into and out of the old stump.
On the way back, we stopped at a viewpoint where the Gold Creek makes a 90 degree turn. It is a beautiful spot with a great view of the mountains. Even this close to Vancouver, there is still snow on the mountains - but the view is obscured because of the smoke from the many distant forest fires.
After our hike, we drove back to the beach at Alouette Lake, found a picnic table in the shade and ate lunch and took a nap.
We then took a quick dip in the lake - in spite of being a mountain lake fed by cool mountain streams, it was cool but not cold. And then we drove back to the hotel to catch the evening news, and then out to dinner where we both enjoyed some salmon.
We decided to head west to Golden Ears Provincial Park. It was a bit of a drive, but well worth it to see a different part of the province. Unfortunately, they have not handouts like other parks - typically we have found maps and descriptions of trails (including distance, elevation gain, time and difficulty). So we were reduced to asking people and taking photos of the signs.
We first stopped at Alouette Lake. It has a huge beach, picnic area and parking lot. Being a weekday, it was less than half full, but since this park is closer to the large population of Vancouver, it needs to be able to accommodate large numbers of visitors. As you can see in these photos, the smoke from distant forest fires impacts a wide region in the province.
Based on a park employee's recommendation, we decided to hike the Lower Falls Trail on Gold Creek. It is wide and even - very much an HMB approved trail - and follows Gold Creek upstream for a couple of miles.
There are many large tree stumps where the old growth forest had been logged.
It was a pleasant couple of miles hiking upstream, with an easy pace of elevation gain to reach the falls.
The trail to this point could even have been handled in a wheel chair - while not marked, those first miles were easily ADA compliant. From the viewpoint, the trail went on for several hundred yards more, but it was steeper and rougher, no longer HMB approved - but we did have nice views of the woods and falls, and of the many hikers who ignored the signs and went for a dip in the river.
On the way back down, I took a photo of this example of a young tree growing out of one of those old growth stumps. There were many like this, but this one was quite spectacular, as the new tree was about 18 inches in diameter and 60 - 70 feet tall, and had a full root system growing into and out of the old stump.
On the way back, we stopped at a viewpoint where the Gold Creek makes a 90 degree turn. It is a beautiful spot with a great view of the mountains. Even this close to Vancouver, there is still snow on the mountains - but the view is obscured because of the smoke from the many distant forest fires.
After our hike, we drove back to the beach at Alouette Lake, found a picnic table in the shade and ate lunch and took a nap.
We then took a quick dip in the lake - in spite of being a mountain lake fed by cool mountain streams, it was cool but not cold. And then we drove back to the hotel to catch the evening news, and then out to dinner where we both enjoyed some salmon.
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